Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 394 The City of Love Enters Berserk Prize-Winning Mode

Hi, Catherine.

Gu Bei looked around and noticed that next to Liu Yifei was Catherine, the director of the bomb disposal team, who was also his biggest competitor today.

When Catherine saw Gu Bei, she showed a hint of embarrassment: "I'm very sorry, Bruce."

It's a rather abstract story, but while Gu Bei was away from Los Angeles, Nicholas Chatterley, the initial investor and producer of The Hurt Locker, sent a mass email to a group of Oscar voters to solicit their votes.

In his email, he disparaged La La Land and Avatar, attempting to morally blackmail the judges with his anti-war stance and get them to vote for The Hurt Locker.

After the incident was exposed, the Academy immediately banned Nicholas from attending the awards ceremony.

Nicholas's PR approach is rather unpretentious, which is admittedly a bit crude.

"I don't think we need to get angry over people who are stopped at the door, do we?"

When Gu Bei and Liu Yifei arrived in the van, they did indeed see the Frenchman, Nicolas, arguing with the security guard at the entrance. He was clearly a stubborn man.

"I think so."

Catherine replied with a smile.

She had several major arguments with Nicholas during filming, and even when Nicholas only slightly violated the rules of the Oscars, she did not immediately speak up for him, allowing the Academy to ban him from attending the awards ceremony.

During casual conversation,

The lights in the sky began to dim.
At the same time, more than 100,000 Swarovski crystals were emitting a deep blue and purple light, forming an archway resembling a stargate, creating a visually stunning effect.

Beneath the arch, the background features a blue vertical stripe design, while large screens on both sides prominently display the stylized number "82," creating an elegant and solemn atmosphere in conjunction with the stage lighting.

This means the awards ceremony is about to begin.
Gu Bei and the others also stopped chatting and turned their attention to the stage above.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the actors who won the Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress are now making their entrance."

To the solemn strains of the band behind them, the ten nominees for Best Actor and Best Actress slowly walked out from the back and stood in a circle in the center of the stage.

Andrew and Emma, ​​two young people, stood out among the ten nominees. The organizers even arranged for them to walk out hand in hand, which was clearly a bit of a publicity stunt.

Gu Bei glanced at Liu Yifei beside him.
Her eyes, illuminated by the soft blue light, appeared deep and profound when viewed from the side.

Liu Yifei noticed his gaze, turned to him with a smile, and asked softly, "What's wrong?"

Gu Bei leaned closer, his voice soft yet confident: "I just think this idea is pretty good. If this segment is kept next year, maybe you can stand on the stage too."

"This is still not easy!"

Liu Yifei still lacked confidence.

"The production of Gravity is nearing completion. With your performance in it, you're definitely qualified for a nomination, unless it's an exceptionally successful year." Gu Bei was much more confident than Liu Yifei.

The nominees' male and female companions came up on stage and led them back to their seats.

Then, Neil Patrick Harris, who played Barney in How I Met Your Mother, came out and began the opening song and dance.

Last year, Hugh Jackman's opening song and dance was well received by the audience, as it blended song and dance with references very well. This segment clearly seems to be imitating and replicating Hugh Jackman's opening song and dance from last year, but the level of the dialogue and song and dance is obviously much lower.

After this somewhat difficult-to-judge opening song and dance,
A basket was lowered from the air, bringing in two hosts, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, a rare sight this year.
Both of them are regulars on Saturday Night Live, and also frequent supporting actors in many movies and TV series.

"Ladies and gentlemen, good evening!"

"Welcome to the 82nd Academy Awards. The biggest change this year is that the number of nominations for Best Picture has doubled compared to previous years."

I imagine... when this news broke, the entire Hollywood was probably calculating how much five times two equals.

Upon hearing this, Gu Bei couldn't help but smile knowingly.

The Chinese and American entertainment industries are quite aligned on this point.
Even compared to the Chinese art students who score only 200-300 points, Hollywood is still a force to be reckoned with.

Many people here only have high school diplomas, and they're even high school students born out of the "happy education" culture in North America. This joke is meant to satirize the general lack of culture in Hollywood.

Then, the two began to rehearse their lines, introducing the nominees for some of the day's important awards.

First up is Alec Baldwin, the final nominee for Best Supporting Actor. He is the biggest nominee at this year's Oscars, and at eighty years old, this is his first nomination.

As the two youngest nominees this year
After the host listed a bunch of nominees,
They began their attack on Andrew and Emma.

“Look, over there are Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. It’s so nice to see you two sitting together. You’re so young and a perfect match.” Steve smiled as he looked at the two of them.

"I thought they had already broken up?" Alec said, feigning ignorance.

"That's just in the movies!"

Steve seemed to be correcting Alec, then used an ambiguous pun to pretend that he also believed the movie was true, "It's fake, right?"

Emma laughed so hard she almost fell over, while Andrew seemed more shy, but he was actually better able to handle the teasing.

Gu Bei was enjoying the melon seeds on the side.

To be honest, he suspected that there were already signs of something going on between the two of them.

The Spider-Man IP is clearly a bit addictive. In La La Land, the two got along very well, but there was no spark between them. However, since Gu Bei confirmed that he would continue the Extraordinary Couple, the two have made faster progress in just a few days than they have in the entire previous year.

"Bruce, the guy next to them is Bruce, the director of La La Land!" Steve pointed at Gu Bei, who was watching the drama unfold. "How old is he again?"

“I’d guess he’s at least seventy years old?” Alec chimed in, playing the straight man.

"What?"

"He's only twenty-three years old, and this is his third time attending the Oscars!" Steve said helplessly.

"You're actually telling me that this director, who's obsessed with musicals and black-and-white silent films, is only in his early twenties?" Alec remained in his supporting role. "I thought he was an old man from the Golden Age!"

Gu Bei smiled and waved at the camera pointed at him. The teasing was quite mild and not even offensive.

Compared to the Will Smith incident, where his family affairs were dredged up and discussed, leading to the mockery of the "slapstick comedy" incident, this is much milder.

"Well, I think the only old man nominated for Best Director tonight is James Cameron, the director of Avatar!"

The voice just fell,

The two hosts each took out 3D glasses.

They put on their glasses together before looking at Cameron.

They then performed a skit about killing the Avatar Wood Spirits with insecticide, although the special effects of the Wood Spirits weren't shown on set. Cameron and Katherine's ex-husband-ex-wife relationship was also inevitably brought up for jokes.

After a two-person stand-up comedy routine,

They went straight to the Best Supporting Actor award presentation.
This also continues last year's innovative approach of first awarding an actor's prize to retain the audience.

The shameless Christoph Waltz undoubtedly won the award. Subsequently,

The scene went dark.
A beam of light shone on the center of the stage.

Ryan Reynolds, known for his Deadpool character, stood in the center of the stage and began introducing "The Blind Side," one of the ten best films of the year.

"This step wasn't included last year, was it?"

Liu Yifei curiously leaned over and asked.

"No, this is the first time this segment has appeared this year, but I don't think it will make it to the next one."

Gu Bei nodded, indicating that Liu Yifei's memory was not faulty. "The performance segment for this year's Best Original Song will not be included."

Liu Yifei suddenly remembered the first time she heard that she was going to sing Love Story on stage two years ago, and couldn't help but smile.

Next came the awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song, which are usually reserved for later. La La Land easily won its first awards.
Then, after the introduction of District 9, came Gu Bei's first nomination: Best Original Screenplay.

"coming!"

Gu Bei said softly.

Last year, the artist's career started to decline after winning her first Best Supporting Actress award.
But that award was never a very likely possibility. Even for a supporting role, it would be difficult for Marion, who had just won Best Actress, to win it again in such a short time.
The decline of artists began to show with the Best Original Screenplay award, as this award is quite important and can reveal the preferences of the judges.

The prestige of an award can also be seen from the presenters.

Robert Downey Jr., the Iron Man actor, and Tina Fey, the writer of Saturday Night Live,

This year, the unique handwritten special effects segment from last year was retained, and Robert Downey Jr. also performed a poetry recitation segment in his very distinctive acting style.

"The winner of Best Original Screenplay is..."

Robert Downey Jr. tore open the envelope but didn't read it. Instead, he placed the paper directly in front of Tina Fey, displaying a rebellious attitude reminiscent of Iron Man.

only……

The nominees in the audience were a bit traumatized; they'd been put on a dummy again.

Tina Fey paused for a moment, took the paper, and slowly opened it: "The winner is Gu Bei, City of Music!"

"call!"

Gu Bei heard Liu Yifei next to him breathe a sigh of relief; she clearly knew the importance of this award.

Gu Bei stood up, hugged Liu Yifei, and then slowly walked onto the stage.

The suspense created by Robert Downey Jr. and Tina Fey made him notice a small detail: this year's Oscar acceptance speech changed from "The Oscars belong to..." to "The winner is...".

The term "winner" has been discontinued since 1988 because it carries a slightly derogatory connotation towards other nominees, and it is unclear why it has been reintroduced this year.

Subsequently,

He went up on stage, received the Oscar from Tina Fey, and stood before the podium: "Okay~ just like I said last year, I'm back!"

"Clap clap clap!"

A round of applause immediately erupted from the audience.
This is Gu Bei's acceptance speech when he won Best Picture.

Although Gu Bei didn't say it explicitly, everyone in the audience and those in the audience knew very well that he was aiming for the Best Director award this year.

Gu Bei just won the Best Original Screenplay Award, and he said this now. He's much more flamboyant than Gu Bei has ever been before.

He didn't know if it was because of the change in the award citation this year.

Or is it because this year is his last year to aim for the award?
As soon as he said it,
You can sense that your tone this year is a bit arrogant.

But let's be a little arrogant!

Subsequently,

Gu Bei continued his acceptance speech: "I really enjoy the feeling of writing a story out of my pen. Although I have done many jobs, such as producer, director, editor... and even makeup artist, yes, I have done makeup for my own film actors."

But ultimately, all of this represents my gratitude as a storyteller. I am very grateful to film as a medium for perfectly telling my story and bringing my dreams to the big screen.

Of course, there's also Tim, Antonio, Michael... I think that's about it. Thank you all for helping me complete the filming of La La Land.

After saying that,

Gu Bei listened to the urging music that had already started playing.

He quickly went backstage, and of course, his first stop was the media area for a brief interview and photo shoot. His next nomination this year is for Best Director, so he's not as rushed as he was with Whiplash.

……

Weibo.

[Newly released photos of Director Gu receiving his award. He looked so confident and handsome while giving his acceptance speech today!]

"Gu Bei won an award? The awards ceremony is going by so fast!"

"What are you thinking? This is the Best Original Screenplay award. The Best Director award won't be given out for at least two hours, by which time the awards ceremony will be almost over."

"Gu Bei was indeed a bit arrogant today, but he has the right to be arrogant. He's nominated every year, so he has no choice but to be arrogant. His strength is undeniable!"

"Two nominations and two wins! This year's awards ceremony looks much more comfortable than last year's!"

"Haha, many people turned it off halfway through last year. Fortunately, The Artist won Best Film in the end, otherwise Director Gu would probably have been severely criticized last year."

"So... am I the only one who noticed that Gu Bei and Liu Yifei's hugging was a bit too intimate?"

……

The awards for Best Original Song and Best Original Screenplay are just the beginning.
Then,

La La Land went into berserk mode.

It rolled over everything like a bulldozer.
Any award that La La Land can be nominated for is a sure win.

Best Original Song, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Effects, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Editing

Nine out of ten candidates passed the imperial examination.

so far,
Aside from receiving two nominations for Best Original Song and losing one,
La La Land never dropped any more points, as if it were trying to win back all the awards the artists lost last year.

This incredible speed at which they've won awards has ignited a frenzy of enthusiasm among Oscar fans!

(End of this chapter)